Part 38- Rediscovered
Thila was just as filthy and crawling with insidious life as any other major port in the outer rim. Here, anything could be bought and sold, from illicit services, to ships, to other sentients. Kreia reached out with the Force and combed the surfaces of all the minds around here. All the rumors she heard led her to this planet, and even to this very port, but she had arrived too late. The Jedi Exile had moved on. It was not long ago, however. The Exile's presence, a wound, echoed in the Force all over the spaceport, wherever she had stepped, she left a trail. Kreia would follow that trail to its source, even if it took her all over the galaxy. In the Exile was something she desperately needed to see, to experience, to harness.
Deep brown hood drawn over her head, Kreia's wrinkled face and white hair was lost to the shadows. Some might say an old woman had no business being in the Thila space port, but Kreia took her business where she would. Anyone who attempted to tell her otherwise, would soon be sorry for it.
Kreia followed the echoing trail in the Force through the docks, when suddenly she felt prompted to stop. There was the Force, meddling in her every move, as it always seemed to want to do. She would humor it. She stopped abruptly and looked around, reaching out through the Force. An Aqualish mumbled something angrily at her as he had to veer his path around her. She ignored him. In the docking bay set down below the raised walkway to her left was something she did not expect to see: the Ebon Hawk.
The old orange-striped Corellian freighter looked just as it had in all of the glorious war holos. To all knowledge, it had disappeared from known space four years ago, when Revan herself left the Republic for the unknown regions. That fact was not widely know, but Kreia made it her business to keep tabs on the Jedi, especially one who had once been her padawan.
And here was Revan's ship, on the remote spaceport of Thila. Revan was nowhere near by, not even in the system. Kreia did not have to look or inquire at the ship to know that. Revan's presence was so strong in the Force, that even if Kreia had not known her as a padawan, she would have shone out like a beacon among all of the dull, normal life forces that dimly glowed around her.
This begged the questions: just how did Revan's ship come to come here without her? What was it doing here? And, did anyone else here know the true value of the ship?
Kreia descended the durasteel stairs into the docking bay and approached the ship. There was a green-skinned Mirialan man under the ship, examining its underbelly.
"You there," Kreia called sharply, "Are you the owner of this ship?"
"Owner and pilot. Avet Kandis at your service," the man answered proudly and walked out towards here, "Who wants to know, old woman?"
Kreia did not answer. He would not get her name unless she wanted to give it to him. "If I am not mistaken," she observed keenly, "This ship is the freighter known as the Ebon Hawk."
"For an old lady, you sure know a lot about ships," he replied, both impressed and wary.
"I knew one of its previous owners, as it happens," Kreia replied crisply. Let him stew on that.
"Hey now," Avet said defensively, "I got this ship fair and square. It's mine now, no matter who flew it before." Deceit rolled off of him in waves
"Is that so?" Kreia asked, taking a step towards him. The lean Mirialan held his ground, but he gave no further explanation. If he would give none, she would take it from him. Kreia extended her hand towards him and found his mind with the Force. She slipped in. Finding her answer was easy. Avet was thinking hard on precisely the event that he was determined not to tell her about. She shuffled through his thoughts, forcing him to think about earlier events that led up to his ownership of the Ebon Hawk.
"What's—ah!" Avet moaned and grabbed at his head with both hands.
Kreia's lips parted in a thin smile.
"Nice ship there, don't you say?" Avet observed to Kepsii, his friend and business partner.
"And it's been there at the refueling station for over an hour," Kepsii observed. No one has come on or off it, just that little droid busy making sure it's fueled. Who lets their astromech do all their maintenance for them anyway?"
"I haven't even seen anyone in the cockpit either," Avet added. "I think we have an abandoned ship here."
Kepsii grinned at him. "Shall we take a look around?" she suggested, "We've been stranded on Barseg for long enough. And it's such a shame for such a nice looking ship to waste around like that."
"I like the way you think. You ready to leave this rock, now?" Avet asked. With this chance before them, they couldn't waste time to go back to their shoddy apartment for anything. It was now or never.
"Let's get out of here Avet," Kepsii replied, grinning even more broadly, "It's time was got ourselves a ship."
So the pair of Mirialans walked right onto the Ebon Hawk and took it for themselves. Only the little astromech droid gave them any trouble. An ion blast and a restraining bolt took care of that quickly enough. Now the two of them were parading around the other rim with it, pretending that it was theirs, all the while watching their back for any owners who might come back to claim it.
Kreia pulled out of his mind and observed, "So it's finders keepers, is it now?"
"I don't know how you..." Avet panted.
"Oh, there are many more terrible things that one can do with the Force," Kreia cooed dangerously under her breath, "I now have the information I wanted to know, and I was able to spare your lips the trouble of speaking it."
"You're, you're one of those Jedi!" Avet exclaimed with a shaky finger pointed at her warningly.
"No," Kreia said, "You would not have to fear a Jedi."
"What do you want?" the man blubbered.
"I have a place I need to go, a person I need to find," Kreia said, "And I want to go there aboard the Ebon Hawk."
"We don't take passengers," Avet said warningly, "Especially not crazy old—"
"Either you will take me there, fool," Kreia snapped sharply at a dangerous whisper, "Or I will take myself there and leave you dry on these docks. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, yes," he stammered, "Very clear. When do you want to go?"
"Now," Kreia replied shortly, "The trail to my quarry is growing staler by the minute."
"I will just call Kepsii, she's out getting supplies," Avet stuttered.
"You do that," Kreia said smoothly, "And I will be aboard, waiting for you to return."
"You can't think me that stupid, to let a total stranger aboard my ship while I am out," Avet pointed out, irritated.
"Then you should pray that I am still feeling generous," Kreia threatened, "Get your friend. I will wait for you." She nudged his mind again, planting the suggestion firmly within his consciousness.
"I will go get my friend," he said, shooting her one last distrustful look, he dashed off.
Kreia smirked beneath the shadows of her hood and slowly ascended the loading ramp into the Ebon Hawk. There would be much to learn aboard this ship. Where had Revan gone and why did she not have her ship with her anymore? Because she did not need it any more. That much was clear. The real question was: why? Revan did nothing without careful calculation.
A small silver astromech scooted into the chamber at the sound of her footsteps. Revan's droid too, no doubt. It tilted its head piece side to side and regarded her with a curious, "Dwooo?" This droid alone could have invaluable information in its memory banks, if the two Mirialans had not been stupid enough to wipe its memory already.
A second, orange plated astromech of the same shape scooted into behind the first and fired off two inquisitive beeps at her as well. She ignored them both.
Before she investigated the droids or even the mysteries of the Ebon Hawk, she had more pressing things to discover. Where had the Jedi Exile gone? Now that she had a ship, she needed direction. Kreia sat down on the cold, metal flooring of the ship and began to meditate. She could sense that the Exile was still nearby, in the relative galactic neighborhood. The Force might have used her to reclaim this ship, but now she would use the Force to direct that ship to her goal. "Where are you, Exile?" she whispered into the Force, and, across the vastness of space, the Force gave her an answer.